Originally Posted by
go4bal
I am traveling from HKT - HKG - LAX on an award ticket. I was routed with my flight from HKT - HKG on Dragonair with a 50 minute layover until I get on my Cathay Pacific flight from HKG - LAX. Is this sufficient time between flights in Hong Kong? This is also late in the evening and is the last flight from HKG - LAX that day. What happens if I miss my connection?
Depart: Phuket, Thailand (HKT) at 6:15pm
Arrive: Hong Kong (HKG) at 10:50pm
Depart: Hong Kong (HKG) at 11:40pm
Arrive: Los Angeles, CA (LAX) at 9:55pm
Thanks.
David
You'll be fine provided you don't arrive too late. 30 minutes late is probably the cutoff line (20 mins before your LAX departure)...if that's the case you better find out from ladies standing outside your Phuket arrival in HKIA where your LAX gate is asap (it very likely is gates 1-4, which are located on the far southeast side of the concourse right next to immigration, using transfer area E2 will be the fastest). Mind you if you're running you should still be able to make your flight regardless of what gate your KA flight docks at, even with just 20 minutes to spare. It will be close....but that can be done. Even if you screw up and go to another transfer area (they basically just facilitate pax with onward boarding passes to get from the arrivals level to the departures level one floor up), you still can get to your gate rather quickly.
That said, if you're not delayed or have a delay of just up to 20 minutes, you will comfortably make your CX LAX connection. Some people on this forum may deride my definition of "comfortably," but being frank there isn't really any gate you can't reach in HKIA from another one within 12 minutes, despite what HKIA's conservative literature says. If you're running, I bet you can do any gate to any other gate in 10. Gate on that LAX flight will probably close 10 minutes prior to departure time, assuming it's on time.
HKIA is arguably the best airport in the world, is extremely well-signed, has plenty of moving walkways, etc. etc. The ONLY thing that could hold you up is sometimes the transfer security screening takes time (far longer than the extremely efficient immigration-level security screening), sometimes 10 minutes or more if the line is long. If you arrive late, that could be the difference for you. Just tell someone there your situation and I'm sure you can get to the front of the security line. If you can't find someone to ask, you can always just jump in the crew line. E2 is hands down always the longest line (E1 is closeby, and for some reason is often much less crowded than E2)